lysol. mission for health. this morning on "early today," blazing trails. medicare takes center stage as accusations fly from both presidential campaigns. family affair. a man led utah police on a high-speed chase with his wife and children in tow. and cosmic supermom. scientists discover a galaxy that gives birth to more stars in day than ours does in a year. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with getting down to business. after brutal blows from each side, by the end of the day wednesday, it seemed the candidates on the campaign trail were easing up on the personal attacks and zeroing in on one issue, medicare.

nbc's claire leka joins from washington with more on that. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, lynn. yes, that's right. but it has been a war of words between president obama and gop rival with mitt romney with words being tossed around like unhinged and hate, and both candidates now going at it in blistering fashion on the latest campaign topic. both campaigns spent the day firing at each other over medicare. president obama was joined whiz the first lady on his last day in iowa. he claims the medicare plan cuts by $700 million. >> we'll get rid of wasteful health care in the system, reforms that will not touch your medicare benefits. >> reporter: paul ryan at his alma mater at the university in ohio fought back on the issue.

>> the president, i'm told, is talking about medicare today. we want this debate. brgt cheers a we need this debate. and we will win this debate. >> according to the congressional budget office, obama's health care reforms and ryan's medicare plan, both slow medicare growth by $700 billion, but neither plan cuts program benefits. both republican candidates have been hammered on the ryan versus romney medicare plan this week. >> the medicare issue has been a big seller for democrats since the 1980s. given all, that they should have expected this and should have been better prepared. >> now today obama and biden are back at the white house with meetings with secretary of state hillary clinton and treasury secretary timothy geithner. that while mitt romney heads to

south carolina, and his running mate will be in ohio. we're live in washington. i'm claire leka. elsewhere a judge in pennsylvania has decided not to block a new state law restricting specific kinds of 50id fi indication to vote. opponents of the voter i.d. law says it will prevent a million registered voters from casting their ballots in the fall. they say they will appeal to the state supreme court to try to stop it before the november election. voter turnout could play a crucial role in what may be a tight race between president obama and mitt romney in pennsylvania. well, thousands of young undocumented immigrants have started applying for the right to legally stay and work in the u.s. the government is now accepting the applications for the new obama administration program for deferred action, a two-year reprieve from any threat of deportation. it would give them work permits but not legal residency or a path to citizenship.

meanwhile arizona governor jan brewer has signed an executive order to direct state agencies to deny drivers licences and others in the new program. right now dozens of wildfires continue to burn across the west fueled by searing heat, dry weather, and strong winds. in california the u.s. marines are sending in helicopters to help battle a cluster of san diego wildfires that have prompted orders to evacuate 180 homes. meanwhile in washington authorities say a wildfire that has destroyed dozens of homes across 30 square miles is now just 35% contained. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. and this is just disturbing. in utah troopers say a dad driving a minivan with his three kids and wife inside just took off during a traffic stop leading a chase at up to 100 miles an hour.

when he finally pulled over dad claims he thought someone was after him. both parents were arrested. the kids who thought they were going fishing are now in pretextive custody. in new york there's no outrunning the weather. torrential rain poured inside the subway stations causing a wet mute for commuters. and in rhode island the wet water created a water spout. this was captured at an airport and a come fell into a sinkhole but they made it out okay. and finally in massachusetts, this is one bad bird. a parrot swooped down from a roof and dive bombed an unsuspecting man smacking him in the head. >> what's wrong with that. he quickly realized the bird brained move could get him tailed so rather than get his wings clipped it quickly flew to a nearby police car and surrendered perching itself on

the shoulder of an officer. the jailbird has been turned over to foster parents until they can find his parents. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning do you, bill. >> i didn't write any of that story. >> you don't want to take credit for that, bill? >> no. >> i yesterday. the cold front heading off the coast and now we're tracking the moing, lynn. the thunderstorms rolled through the northeast yesterday. the cold front heading off the coast and now we're tracking the next one. almost like a september pattern across the country with one front after another coming down from canada and look at this. that's where the cold front is located. the 24-hour temperature change, you can really draw using this map where the cold front is located. temperatures are going to be 10 to 15 degrees cooler in the northern plain this morning and eventually that cool air mass will shift to the great lakes for tomorrow. right now of course we have the hot air ahead of it.

just enough moisture that we sparked showers and thunderstorms here. we're still warm across the ohio valley this morning and all the way through the great lakes and central plains. unfortunately this cold front won't quite make it all the way down to texas. but many areas of oklahoma, arkansas, and missouri will cool a off. and how glorious is this? thunderstorms have erupted here right through the state of iowa. we're getting drenched this morning. we don't want severe weather but we'll take the downpours. dry once the front clears through. temperatures will be in the 70s. hopefully the other drought areas will get the rain through the oklahoma and missouri area. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so for the aechb seaboard after the active weather yesterday it goes off the coast. we're looking at nice weather. still warm into the 80s and 90s. it should be dry. even boston after a wet morning, you'll dry out.

we eat keep track of the cold front. >> thanks so much. well, coming up, cisco drives, a bank scandal widens, and a nike t-shirt that has critics up in arms. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, the fur flies as lady gaga fires back at animal rights group peta. perfection in see aelt, a giant suspension and a historic win for usa soccer. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to early today. i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. a security guard is in stable condition after being wounded in the arm. police say the gunman made negative comments about the christian organization's work. the may or f dallas has declared the west nile virus

outbreak to be a state of emergency after more than ten deaths have been reported. the huds of engd's queen elizabeth prince philip is back in the hospital for a bladder infection. the 91-year-old is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. the u.s. air force has confirmed the launch failure of the x-51a wave rider aircraft which is intended to fly more than five times the speed of sound. after being launched from a b-52 bomber, there was a problem with the cruise control fins and it was lost. and scientists have found what they are calling a cause mick super mom galaxy. it creates about 740,000 new stars per year compared to our milky way gal axleyy which only produces one a year. and now here's an early look at how wall street's going to kick off the day. the dow opens at 13,164 after falling p points yesterday.

the s&p was up a point and the nasdaq gained 13. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei shot up 167 points, but in hong kong the hang seng dropped 89. on wednesday the street got a few signs that the economy is improving, albeit slowing. they is hit a five-year high which added to good news that industrial production picked up last month and consumer prices which affect inflation remained unchanged. on the earnings front cisco post add jump in quarterly profit and raise add dividend. else where, lenovo reported a healthy jump in quarterly profit. farm equipment maker deere delivered an earnings miss and slashed a forecast thanks to the drought. staples earnings were below expectations. meanwhile target reported better than expected earnings and announced its first

expansion outside the u.s. on the deal front, private equity firm carlisle front is biting getty images for $3.3 billion. the "associated press" reports seven banks have been subpoen d ed by the attorney's general. they're under investigation of a transcontinental fixed rate scandal. after vowing to remove formaldehyde from its babe products johnson & johnson is now including its adult brand knneutra gina. take a look at facebook. shares will flood the market today freeing up insiders to sell additional shares for the first time. and finally kanye west may disagree but nike is under fire for this olympic inspired t-shirt. critics say the gold digging logo is offensive.

coming up the rangers avoid the broom, the umpire gets a spike to the face, and another doping scandal in major league baseball. plus, 75 years of defeat in mexico comes to an end. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. so we're tracking the cool air coming through the middle of the country, and sooner or later it's going to go into the east. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

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good morning. if you're st waking up, this is "early today." and in sports seattle's king felix managed to pitch his way into the history books. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning, for years the mariners' felix hernandez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball and now he's perfect. here we go to seattle where felix has joined baseball royalty. overpowered the rays from start to finish and got stronger as the game went along. king's court going crazy. hernandez on the verge of making history. complete perfection with his 12th strikeout, 27 up, 27 down. felix hernandez pitch add 23rd perfect game in baseball history and the third this season. mariners won it, 1-0. yanks and rangers. they have the league-leading 34, but not enough.

scary moment angels and indians play at the plate. clipped umpire greg gibson in the face with his cleat. gibson went down like a ton of bricks. cut in eye. luckily he's okay. could have been much worse. danny espinosa taking lincecum deep. all he could do was watch it go over the wall. stephen strasburg picked up his 14th win of the year. more bad news for the giants. cabrera has been suspended 50 games. he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. they were having a career year. now we know why. last but noft least the u.s. soccer team did something they've never done before. they beat mexico. check out the nifty hit by boyd. usa up 1- tim howard made the lead stick.

a couple of huge after 75 years offutility, the usa finally bea mexico south of the border, 1-0. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, a surprise for elvis fans a tgraceland marking the 35th anniversary of his death. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, we'll tell you about one team's brave quest to fight cyber bullying. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." tracking a fall-like cold front over the next couple of days that will bring thunderstorms first and then a beautiful low humidity air mass behind it. this morning we've got thunderstorms rolling and rocking through areas of iowa and then chicago. then michigan and arkansas will have a chance of those storms. eventually as we go throughout our forecast for friday the storms and events will arrive through the appalachians and possibly through the mid-atlantic. >> if you're watch uing us on ky3 missouri see how laundry and dishes can inspire beautiful art at playing house at the springfield art museum. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> i did dishes for like a half hour last night. i've got dish pan hands. i don't want to hear it. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. elvis presley fans are marking

the 35th death of the king in memph memphis. they did this last night and got a special surprise. his ex-wife priscilla and their only daughter marie stunned thousands of greeting fans holding a candlelight vigil at graceland. else where chris brown and drake are being sued for $16 million over a bottle-throwing brawl at a club in june. more than a decade after he left to fight parkinson disease, michael j. fox is reportedly plans a return to tv. there's a comedy in the works. >> and finally lady gaga is fighting back at the animal rights group peta. in a statement she snapped she doesn't support violent abusive campaigns and referring to kim kardashian's flour bombing this year.

she said save your bread for children who are hungry and kim kardashian is fabulous. and this comes from kare in minnesota. a teenager has beaten cyber bullies at their own game. this is fantastic. kevin is a high school senior who was tired of reading anonymous online slurs about his classmates so he quietly started a single page praising them on their compliments. it's such a hit that the idea has now split to neighboring schools. his football coach was so impressed he named him team captain. hopefully a lot of other kids will follow suit. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late breaking, this is 11 news at 5:00 a.m. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning, everyone. the temperatures have come down. 68 at the airport. 62. almost dipping into the 50's. the forecast for today, sunshine. still going to be a nice day. it will feel comfortable. 86-91. when we come back in a few minutes, we will look at the seven day forecast. >> 65 degrees. coming up, it could pull a shot after going after a child.

-- a pit bull is shot after going after a child. >> a war of words on the campaign trail over the latest hot topic, medicare. >> checking out your thursday morning commute if you are going

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>> you are watching wbal tv 11. >> good morning, every ready. >> thank you for joining us. >> a look at the weather. it looks like it is going to be a nice day the day. >> it feels good out there this morning. right now, we are in the upper- 60. the dew point is 64 and i think it will come down later this afternoon. afternoon.